The kingwent up to the house of Yahweh, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalemwith him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, bothsmall and great: and he read in theirears all the words of the book of the covenantwhich was found in the house of Yahweh.

The kingstood by the pillar, and made a covenantbeforeYahweh, to walkafterYahweh, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all [his] heart, and all [his] soul, to confirm the words of thiscovenantthatwerewritten in thisbook: and all the peoplestood to the covenant.

The kingcommandedHilkiah the highpriest, and the priests of the secondorder, and the keepers of the threshold, to bringforth out of the temple of Yahweh all the vesselsthatweremade for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the army of the sky, and he burnedthemoutside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel.

He put down the idolatrouspriests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burnincense in the highplaces in the cities of Judah, and in the placesaroundJerusalem; thosealso who burnedincense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the army of the sky.

He brought out the Asherahfrom the house of Yahweh, outside of Jerusalem, to the brookKidron, and burned it at the brookKidron, and beat it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of the commonpeople.

He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the highplaceswhere the priests had burnedincense, fromGeba to Beersheba; and he brokedown the highplaces of the gatesthatwere at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, whichwere on a man'slefthand at the gate of the city.

He tookaway the horsesthat the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of Yahweh, by the chamber of NathanMelech the officer, who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun withfire.

The altarsthatwere on the roof of the upperchamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altarswhichManasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Yahweh, did the kingbreakdown, and beat [them] downfromthere, and cast the dust of theminto the brookKidron.

The highplacesthatwerebeforeJerusalem, whichwere on the righthand of the mountain of corruption, whichSolomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the kingdefile.

Moreover the altarthat was at Bethel, and the highplacewhichJeroboam the son of Nebat, who madeIsrael to sin, had made, eventhataltar and the highplace he brokedown; and he burned the highplace and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah.

As Josiahturnedhimself, he spied the tombsthatwerethere in the mountain; and he sent, and took the bones out of the tombs, and burnedthem on the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of Yahwehwhich the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimedthesethings.

All the housesalso of the highplacesthatwere in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke [Yahweh] to anger, Josiahtookaway, and did to themaccording to all the actsthat he had done in Bethel.

Moreoverthose who had familiarspirits, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominationsthatwereseen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he mightconfirm the words of the law whichwerewritten in the bookthatHilkiah the priestfound in the house of Yahweh.

Like him was there no kingbefore him, who turned to Yahwehwith all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neitherafter him arosethere any like him.

His servantscarried him in a chariotdeadfromMegiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the landtookJehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father'splace.

Jehoiakimgave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the moneyaccording to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of everyoneaccording to his taxation, to give it to PharaohNecoh.